Exemplary embodiments relate to semiconductor processing, and more specifically, to precisely tuning sizes of existing features on hardmasks.
Lithography is widely used to pattern layers in semiconductor processing. A particularly useful application of lithography relates to the production of contact holes. As dimensions shrink in semiconductor devices, forming contact holes becomes increasingly difficult. With current technology, reliably defining contact holes with reproducible size is a major hurdle for semiconductor manufacturing. Building very-reproducible sub-minimum-lithography-dimensioned “holes” or trenches/troughs is desirable.
Methods for producing sub-minimum-lithography-dimensioned contact holes or any other sub-minimum-lithography-dimensioned features typically involve the use of optical lithography to print minimum-lithography-dimensioned holes which can then be shrunk to necessary (sub-minimum-lithography) dimensions by forming spacer layers on the hole sidewalls.